Welcome back, Naomi, although I’m so sorry that Marcie is having these problems. I apologize for the delay in writing to you, but I’ve been doing a bit of traveling and am just now catching up on things here. I wish there were more folks here for you to talk to, but sadly many of the familiar faces from earlier years are no longer posting here. People seem to be gravitating more to Facebook groups now, and not so much to message boards such as K9C. But we will still do our best to answer any questions we can.

Under the circumstances, I agree with Lori that an ACTH stimulation test would be a reasonable diagnostic step. Of the two tests, the LDDS is less likely to return a “false negative” in a dog who truly has Cushing’s. But the ACTH is less likely to return a “false positive” in a dog who is actually suffering from a stressor or illness other than Cushing’s. So if an ACTH also comes back positive for Marcie, I think you’d have greater confidence that Cushing’s is genuinely the culprit.

Also, like Lori, I’d welcome seeing any other abnormal laboratory results for Marcie. Dogs with Cushing’s often exhibit certain abnormalities in other labwork. So again, having the chance to review the results can add more clarity to the diagnosis.

In the meantime, though, I certainly want to join in welcoming you once again. Fraser will always be remembered and honored here, and now we hope to support you and Marcie in any way we can.

Marianne